Main site at http://RuneStoneComic.com. In the DARKHAN CITY AWESOME COMICS CULTURE PODCAST, the Pantyhose Ninjas (ELDERS OF THE RUNESTONE creators Quinn Johnson & Robert Atkins, plus editor Troy Johnson) discuss comics, movies, TV and video games, all with a healthy dose of comedy. This is the place for exclusive interviews with the best professional talent in the entertainment industry, and for discussions on the best ways to break in yourself! Also on iTunes and Zune.net!

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

First post! and the unveiling at Wizard World Chicago

Well it's finally up, the creators' blog for Elders of the RuneStone. I can't tell you how excited I am to be involved in this comic series, seeing as how it's a story I've been working on my entire adult life. To finally see it as a reality--well, it's just something very special. I hope that all of you will be along for the ride as we kick things into high gear!

So a little report on how things went in Chicago this past weekend as we officially unveiled Elders of the RuneStone to the world at the Wizard World Con. I flew from Salt Lake City, Utah to Springfield, Illinois where Robert (the artist on the series) lives with his wife and son, and soon joined by his sister Elaine (our web master) we set about feverishly preparing the last details for the show. Basically, that meant getting all the preview books ready to go with teaser pages of the series and behind-the-scenes character art. Although we had spent the past several months on everything from the artwork (a huge process) to the coloring (from our amazing new ally Bob Pedroza) to lettering (me) to the trademarking process (thanks Dave) to registering and building the website (many, many thanks Elaine), there was still a LOT to do.

And that meant dealing with every possible setback.

We had problems getting the art files to work between our three computers. Then we had problems getting the fonts to work right. Then the ink ran out of Elaine's printer as we printed the books. Then the store didn't have any more ink, so as a last ditch effort, we bought a NEW PRINTER. Then THAT one ran out of ink. And all this being done in the last hour before we had to leave for Chicago. Stressful? Yes. Frustrating? Oh yeah. But rewarding? Well, of the 50 preview books we printed (which after all was said and done came out looking awesome), we gave several away to publishers and fellow artists, kept a few for ourselves, and sold the rest. Robert, who is much more experienced in the convention circuit than myself, said he expected us to sell 20 at most. What a blessing it was that our debut went so well!

A special thanks goes out to Mike O'Sullivan, editor at Devil's Due Publishing, for graciously letting us crash in his apartment for the duration of the show, and for his generous friendship. We had a great (and exhausting) time and are already seeing the results as our site has received numerous hits.

For those of you checking out Elders of the RuneStone for the first time, we're glad to have you along for the trip. More updates coming very soon as we prepare for the launch of the FIRST ISSUE, available for download this fall! Until then, get ready to rock!! And enjoy the features we've added thus far as the story unfolds.